Rhys and Clare Champion Women's Rights.

 Rhys Bowen: Hallie’s post on Monday talked about anachronisms in novels. It’s something that drives me bonkers. To read about a character in Victorian times who says she’s stressed and needs to relax, who calls other people by their first name is such a red flag to me. (Freud hadn’t published at that time and mentioned those words).

So when Clare and I write our Molly books together we really work hard at getting everything right. Clare reads the New York Times for every day we write about. This gives a feel for not only what was happening, what the concerns of the time were, but attitudes and vocabulary.  Then we decide on our setting and I have books of photos of old New York, exteriors and interiors, maps. For the first Molly books I went to New York and walked anywhere that Molly walked, noting what one heard, smelled, felt.

Now we are writing Molly 22. (We don’t have a title yet, but like something like As We Go Marching On). The story actually presented itself from the time. We are up to fall 1909 and in New York there was a huge celebration called the Hudson-Fulton. It celebrated three hundred years since Henry Hudson discovered the river that bears his name and one hundred years since Fulton invented the paddle steamer and thus brought commerce to upstate New York. The whole city was strung with electric lights--still a novelty at the time.

The occasion was marked with impressive parades for two weeks—floats that rivaled the current Rose Parade and also a naval parade that stretched sixteen miles up the Hudson and included battleships from other nations as well as replicas of the original ships of Hudson and Fulton.

What struck us was that the committee was composed of 150 men. No women invited to give input in the design or composition of any parade. Not a single woman was invited to the opening banquet. And suffragists were not allowed to participate in the parade. At the same time suffragettes in England were being force-fed in British jails. So we had a story waiting to happen. What if suffragists were planning to disrupt a parade? And Molly was asked to spy on her friends? And what if something went wrong???

So we have the basis for our story and we’re just working out who is going to wind up dead and why. But we love featuring the suffrage movement because we are very conscious that half the population couldn’t vote at the time, that women were the property of their husbands. We are also conscious of women’s right being eroded at this moment so we hope the story will touch a nerve.

I just had a lovely letter from a fan who thanked me for opening her eyes to real history. She said she hadn’t enjoyed history in school but through my books she has learned so much and now wishes she had been a history major. I feel exactly the same way. I did not enjoy history in school. It was all about learn these dates and these battles and I got in trouble for asking how people went to the bathroom. I wasn’t being cheeky. I wanted to know.

I've learned so much from other writers: Charles Todd, Jacqueline Winspear, Anne Perry... So do you feel the same way about historical novels? Do you enjoy learning new things as well as getting a good story?

Why I Love New York

 RHYS BOWEN: Until I started writing a mystery series set in New York in the year 1901, I never really noticed the city around me. I visited, took taxis, ate, had meetings, saw shows, shopped and left again.

Now that New York is the place I write about, my senses are fine-tuned. In an apparently modern city of skyscrapers and speed, so much of that turn-of-the-century New York still exists. It is exciting to walk along Canal Street into the Lower East Side, and see streets still cobbled with the old granite blocks, tenements that would have housed immigrant families, corners on which gangs would have lurked.

I don’t even need to recreate the past in my mind. It is always recreating itself. Take the Feast of San Genaro, held in mid September on Mulberry Street in Little Italy. San Genaro, you may remember is the patron saint of Naples—the one whose blood liquefies on his feast day every year. Booths line the already narrow street, selling food and trinkets and clothing. There is even a freak show—fifty cents to see the world’s smallest woman or the snake lady! Good smells compete—huge sizzling curled snakes of sausage, frying onions, shrimps and clams, spaghetti and meatballs. The noise level is overwhelming as a tide of pedestrians shuffles forward, talking in all the tongues of the globe while brass bands and singers court the diners at the sidewalk cafes.

This is exactly how it would have been in 1901. My heroine, Molly Murphy, would have fought her way along this street, shopping at the pushcarts and booths, hearing a polyglot of languages spoken around her, watching out for pick pockets and feeling the life of the city energizing her. Perhaps it is a little cleaner underfoot these days. Litter is confined to fast food wrappers--no horse droppings or slops tossed down from tenements.

Since I’ve been an observer of New York, I’ve had a chance to detail what I like about it. Here are my top ten reasons for liking the city:

 

1.         It is a true city where living, working, eating, shopping all take place on the same block. In other cities the commercial areas are dead after working hours. Not so New York. It lives twenty four hours a day.

2.         Life is not confined to buildings. It spills out onto sidewalks and into parks. At the first sign of spring, tables and umbrellas come out onto sidewalks, people take their food into parks. They sit outside the public library playing chess. There are impromptu jazz bands and barbershop quartets in the subway at Grand Central and outdoor concerts in Central Park.

3.         It is a city of artwork. There are mosaics in the subway stations—my favorite is the Alice in Wonderland motif at 50th Street. Look up and you’ll see Egyptian temples, art deco medallions, Greek columns and marble frescos, sometimes eight or ten floors above ground level. For whom were the art deco goddesses and marble pediments intended? Certainly not the pedestrians who walk below and never look up as they hurry to the nearest subway. Not always the inhabitants of buildings opposite as some of them face blank walls. I like to think of them as a little offering to the gods above.

4.         It is a city of good smells. Every block has at least one good aroma wafting out of a café, or from a sidewalk cart—roasting coffee, frying onions, curry, sesame oil, baking bread. Luckily New Yorkers have to walk so much or they’d all be fat.

5.         New York is a city of dogs. They are not much in evidence during the day, unless one encounters a dog walker, being dragged down Fifth Avenue by six or seven of her charges. But early evening, the dogs come out, each with his accompanying human, whom he often resembles in stature and walk. Interestingly enough, there are more big dogs than small. You would have thought that dachshunds and yorkies would have been ideal for city life, but I see more golden retrievers and labs and standard poodles, even Afghan hounds. New Yorkers are well trained too. Not a speck of poop in sight on the sidewalks.

6.         It is a city of cheap eats and cheap shops. There are coffee shops all over where two dollars will buy an egg roll and coffee for breakfast. Even sushi bars offer two for one on weeknights. And T shirts with the famous I love NY slogan on them are now two for ten dollars. Of course I also saw a T shirt for three hundred dollars in Bloomies, so I have to say also that New York is…

7.         …a city of contrasts. On the bus old ladies from the upper East Side wearing tired looking furs and smelling of face powder and moth balls sit next to young men in baggy pants, gang colors and caps worn backward. Sometimes they look at each other and smile.

The hot dog cart on the street is only a few steps away from the most pretentious tea salon in the universe. Their tea menu is twelve pages long. When I ask for a Darjeeling, I am directed to a page full of Darjeelings and a First Flush, Robertson Estate is recommended. I am so tempted to take a sip, look indignant and exclaim, “You’ve brought me a second flush, you imposter!”

8.         It is a city of haste. Everything in New York is done quickly. People leap from sidewalks to snare cabs. They run down subway steps. They inch out into traffic and anticipate the Walk sign by a good two seconds. In  Bryant Park outside the library men play chess at breakneck speed. Knight to bishop two-ding, and the timer bell is slapped, Queen to rook four-ding. The whole game is over in five minutes. A crowd of men stands around, watching.

9.         It is also a city of quiet corners in which time stands still. There is a fair being held in a churchyard with home baked cookies and crocheted potholders. I once got locked, by mistake, in Gramercy park, which is the only private square in the city when I had stayed at the Gramercy Park hotel and gone there to regroup in the calm of nature. In Central Park proud moms and darker skinned nannies watch light skinned children play in the sand or climb the rocks. It is easy to get lost in Central Park, easy to forget that you are in a city at all.

10.  And most surprisingly for one who has visited New York for the past thirty years---it is a city of friendly people. These days people chat as they wait for buses. They see tourists puzzling over maps and ask if they need help. Bus drivers actually call out the name of streets intelligibly and answer questions when asked. A minor miracle has occurred—the one good by-product of a 9/11 that touched every New York life and forged and strengthened it with fire.

I only wish I'd been there to experience the time when my book was on that billboard in Times Square!

 

So are you a fan of New York? What do you like about it? Hate about it?

Molly Murphy's New York

RHYS BOWEN: My daughter Clare and I are getting ready to release a new Molly Murphy book. We're having our launch party at the Poisoned Pen bookstore in Scotsdale on Saturday March 11 (where we'll be serving Irish goodies and will probably have a touch of the Blarney) and the official release date is March 14. So I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite pix from Molly's New York.

When I first started writing the series I used to go to New York and walk every yard that Molly walked so I could get a feel for the place. What could she see? Smell? Experience? Did the wind blow straight off the Hudson here? Could you hear tugs on the East River from here? I've sat in Pete's Tavern, although Molly would not have been allowed in. Now I know my way around well and could give you a lovely guided tour of Molly's New York. (My publisher jumped at this idea, but no thank you!)

Every time I go to New York I visit Molly's neck of the woods--Greenwich Village--just to remind myself of where she lives.  It's nice to imagine coming out of Molly's front door and going across the street to visit Sid and Gus. Or to push Liam in his stroller to Washington Square.I am lucky that it is pretty much unchanged. Her little backwater of Patchin Place is exactly as it was, although it's now quite upscale and I'm sure the houses cost a fortune! 

Sid and Gus's house is just across the street:

And here is Molly's house. I got an email from the man who lives there now. He sent me pictures of the interior and the garden. 

This is the Jefferson Market, across the street from Patchin Place. It was once the market building, as well as the police station and jail. Now it has housed a library until recently (it's closed at the moment or was when I was there last.)

And this is the last existing gas lamp in New York City and it's in Patchin Place.

This is Molly's pharmacy, just around the corner. Still going since eighteen eighties!

And Washington Square where Molly takes her little son to play.

And lastly, here is the house on Fifth Avenue where Molly finds herself moving in the new book, ALL THAT IS HIDDEN. It's a lovely house, a step up in the world, but at what price? How can Daniel have become involved in Tammany Hall politics? No good can come of it!

Aren't I lucky to be writing historical novels about a place I can still visit and experience? Tomorrow I'll share what I love most about New York.

But it's nice to imagine coming out of Molly's front door and going across the street to visit Sid and Gus. Or to push Liam in his stroller to Washington Square.

Wild Irish Rose Release Day!!! with Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles

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JENN: I am just thrilled to celebrate the release of Wild Irish Rose by interviewing our Rhys and her daughter and co-author Clare Broyles. Not for nothing, but it feels as if we've been waiting for more Molly for FOREVER :)

Dear Jenn: thank you for interviewing us. We’re so excited for launch day today. Clare, especially. It’s a big day for her—her first mystery novel, her introduction to the mystery community. I know everyone is going to be so delighted with her talent. I have to share that the story-line for this book came from her! 

JENN: As the mother of two sons, I can't imagine writing a book with them without blood being spilled and I'm not talking about in the book! How was the experience of writing together for you two? Easier than you expected? Or did you quarrel? If you did disagree, who won?

RHYS: Amazingly I don’t think we disagreed over anything. We gave each other comments and suggestions and these always made the story stronger. But Clare and I have had a very harmonious relationship from the beginning. She is sweet-natured and easy-going. When she graduated from high school we went around Europe together for a month and never had one cross word during that time, which is quite amazing. 

CLARE: Having read and taken notes on all seventeen of the previous Molly Murphy novels I had great faith in Rhys’ vision for the series. Her characters are so fun to write! My goal was to write this novel to seamlessly fit in with the other Molly Murphy’s. So I was much more likely to ask for advice than to argue. It has been such a gift to be able to work together because we have such fun. We would much prefer to make each other laugh than to disagree about anything. 

JENN: For Clare: Did you always want to be a writer like your Mum? Was it intimidating to step into the world of Molly Murphy that Rhys created or was it easier because you know her voice so well? 

CLARE: Writing has always been a part of my life. At the beginning it was mostly poetry and parodies. In college I handed my organic chemistry professor a poem that began, “The naming of molecules is a difficult matter/ it isn’t just one of your holiday games/ now you may think that I’m mad as a hatter/ when I say each organic compound has three names.” It went on to describe the different molecular names in verse, ending with, “The last is the name that the chemists keep secret, and this is the name that you never will guess/ for it’s not to be found in a book or a lecture/ and this is the name that appears on the test!” My professor remarked that I was more skilled at poetry than organic chemistry and suggested a change in major. Although I enjoyed writing, it was a daunting prospect to tackle a novel. My mother’s career made it clear that being a working author is a possibility, but also that it is hard work. It is a very rare day that she doesn’t write five pages. 

It was intimidating at first to step into Molly’s world. Every time Molly walked down a street I would have to stop and think, “What does this street look like? What is she wearing? What kind of traffic is going by?” There is an immense amount of detail in the Molly Murphy books and it is important to get it all correct. I do think that I had a huge advantage in having been one of my Rhy’s first readers since I was in high school. I know her voice and I know the parts of Molly that come from her personality. Molly has my mom’s sense of humor and her refusal to let anyone put her down. 

JENN: For Rhys: How hard was it to put the world you've created into your daughter's hands? Did you have any control freak moments? What do you think Clare brings to the series that is uniquely hers? 

RHYS: I have to confess I was hesitant when she first came to me with the idea that she wanted us to continue the series together. I knew she had the capability to be a good writer, but I was already doing two books a year and I wondered if I’d end up having to write and re-write a lot of the book. As it happened she got Molly’s voice instantly, came up with brilliant plot suggestions and hit the ground running. 

JENN: What did you discover about yourselves during the collaboration? Did you enjoy the experience?  

RHYS: I think I had to learn to let go of my character, my series and trust Clare to lead us into new directions. I think she’ll bring a freshness to the series. And we have had so much fun! We always laugh a lot together and this has been a joy. 

 CLARE: I learned I can be a working author. I didn’t have the luxury of writing only when I felt the inspiration. Since I teach full time during the school year I needed to write very steadily during the summer. Sometimes I had no idea what was coming next. Rhys taught me to begin with editing the work of the day before and let that lead into the new scene. I found taking a long shower or walk to be helpful when I’m stuck! 

JENN: Was it easier to collaborate on a world that is already established than starting a collaboration with a brand new series? 

CLARE: It was so much fun it is to write in a world that already has established characters. The world of the series already has its rules. When the writing is flowing, I have the same enjoyment that I do in reading a good book; a feeling of spending time with characters that I care about. And , as my husband and children can attest, the same tendency to completely lose track of time. It might be difficult if I didn’t like the characters. For example, if I had to write in the head of someone truly evil. Molly has a strong moral sense and a self-deprecating sense of humor, so it is fun to put myself in her head as I write. 

RHYS: We wrote a children’s book together several years ago that needed serious world-building skills. Lots of discussions. But Clare read all 17 books and came in with a good idea of Molly’s world so it was easy for us both to explore new plot options. Also, being Clare, she started reading the NYT for every day we were writing about to make sure it was all true to life. 

JENN: For Clare: Was this the first mystery you've written? Do you see yourself branching out to write a series on your own? Would it be historical or do you have other genre aspirations? 

CLARE: Yes, this is the first mystery I have written. I would like to write my own series and it will definitely be historical. I love researching the past. I think Rhys’ books have a fantastic blend of fictional characters with real people from history. I would hope to do something similar while perhaps drawing from my own background as a musician. 

JENN: For Rhys: Do you see yourself collaborating on other books and series or is one enough, for now? 

RHYS: Jenn, I’m doing two and a half books a year at the moment. You are the only person crazy enough to do as much as this! 

JENN: LOL. We are birds of a feather :)

RHYS: My hope and desire is that Clare can gradually take over this series and I can step back to just offering thoughts and guidance when asked for. I want Clare to branch out with her own writing career. 

JENN: What's next for Molly Murphy and your partnership?  

RHYS: We’ve already finished the next book, tentatively called ALL THAT IS HIDDEN. It deals with New York crooked politics, docklands and Bridie’s new school. Thank you so much. 

JENN: It was an absolute delight!

GIVEAWAY!!! We’ll be happy to send a signed copy to our favorite comment of the day!
 

All right, Reds and Readers, your turn! What questions do you have for Rhys and Clare? How excited are we all to have another Molly Murphy? Yay!!!

Rhys Revisits New York

 RHYS BOWEN:  Today's post has a New York theme!. 

Before I show you what I’m writing I have had some amazing things happen to me recently. But the most amazing thing is happening right now. THE VENICE SKETCHBOOK  is on a billboard in Times Square. Can you believe it? When I was a teenager I dreamed of being an actress and would have loved my name in lights on Broadway. Well… finally! Who’d have thought it?

Anyway, now back to reality and work. I am currently busy writing my second Molly Murphy book with my daughter Clare. She came to stay for a couple of weeks and then we spent a week together in San Diego while we plotted and now we’re about 100 pages into the story. Clare’s a little worried because nobody has died yet, but I tell her that I’ve written several books in which nobody dies in the first hundred pages. Other dramatic things happen, and we’re leading up to a big murder scene, so all is well.

I thought I’d share a little about how the book begins. Poor Molly--just when she seems settled and all is going well, I do like to throw that curveball at her!  Here is a snippet from the start of the book. Daniel takes Molly out for a walk and springs a big surprise on her (not going to tell you what it is), then this follows:

We walked down the right side of the street on the wide sidewalk past the 5th Avenue brownstones. On the other side of Ninth Street Daniel stopped at an impressive flight of marble steps with a wrought iron railing leading up to a white door framed with a decorated arch.

“Let’s pay a call, shall we?” Daniel lifted Liam out of the pram and into my arms then climbed the steps and rang the bell.

“Wait, Daniel,” I called after him. “Who are we visiting? You should have warned me. I’m not suitably dressed. A stroll, you said.”

Daniel looked back and smiled. “You look fine,” he said. “Don’t worry.

“I came up with steps to stand  beside him and stood rather nervously on the stoop. Really, I like a surprise but this was going too far. Was Sheriff that high a position that Daniel would now know people who lived in 5th Avenue houses like this?  Had we been invited to tea and here was I in my usual two piece costume and not a tea dress. It had probably never occurred to Daniel that women like to know in advance what to wear for every occasion. Honestly, men can be infuriating. But it was too late to turn back now.

The door was answered by a maid who didn’t show any surprise at seeing us. “You must be Captain and Mrs. Sullivan,” she said, giving us a shy smile as she dropped a curtsey. “You are expected, please come in. I’m Mary.” We walked into the front hall and Daniel took off his hat and hung it on the hat stand, then helped me off with my cloak and hung it up as well. The marble floor echoed as I set Liam down and he stomped his foot experimentally and headed toward the staircase in front of us.

“Shh. Liam come here.” I hurriedly took his coat off as well and lifted him up again. The maid waited and then indicated we should follow her through a curtained doorway. “The parlor is through here, sir.”

I walked in with a bright smile on my face expecting to be introduced to the man or lady of the house, but the parlor was empty. A fire burned in the marble fireplace. A table in the center of the room under the electric chandelier held a priceless looking vase and ornate shelves just across from me were full of decorative plates, cups and figurines. I instinctively clutched Liam a little tighter, making sure his hands were safely out of the way and decided that putting him down here was not a good idea.

“The family drawing room is back here, sir.” She led us through another silk curtained doorway and into a comfortable looking drawing room. The room was crowded with delicate embroidered sofas and chairs and carved mahogany tables in many sizes. There was a beautiful Persian rug on the floor and a large tapestry on the far wall. But still no people. My mind spun. Had Daniel brought me to a murder scene? Hardly an outing to bring your son along to. Were the owners of the house very shy?

“The dining room is at the back of the house and bedrooms are upstairs, sir if you will follow me.” Mary continued after a pause as we looked around the empty drawing room. The bedrooms?

“Daniel,” I turned to him in exasperation. “Why are we seeing the bedrooms? Is the owner an invalid?’

“No,” he replied, already heading toward the stairs.

“Daniel!” I called after him. “What is going on? Whose house is this.”

He turned to me with a big smile. “Yours.” He put his arms around both Liam and me. “Ours. Welcome home, Mrs. Sullivan!”

RHYS: How have they managed to move into this big and beautiful house? Has Daniel become a crooked cop? Is he taking bribes?  You'll have to read the book to find out. Our working title is   ALL THAT IS HIDDEN.

So, dear Reds and readers, would you be thrilled if your husband suddenly sprang a lovely new house on you?

Viva Strong Italian Women! by Maria DiRico

JENN McKINLAY: One of my favorite authors, Ellen Byron, is visiting today but she is appearing as her alter ego Maria DiRico to introduce us to her brand new Catering Hall mystery series! I was lucky enough to read and advance copy and called it "A fresh, fun, and fabulous debut to what promises to be a fantastic new mystery series!" Here's Ellen/Maria to tell us more about what inspired this series. Also, she's offering a giveaway! One lucky commenter will be randomly chosen to receive a copy. Don't miss out!

Ellen: The relationship between my protagonist and her “nonna” in my new Catering Hall Mysteries is central to the series. This reflects my wonderful luck of having been raised with two strong women as role models – my mother and grandmother, both Italian immigrants. 

They came from a picturesque town called Orsogna in the Abruzzo region, immigrating to America in 1930, just in time for the Great Depression. Here’s a photo taken shortly after their arrival. The stuffed animal was a prop. Mom says she screamed bloody murder when she had to return it to the photographer.

Life was hard for the new arrivals. They ate rotten fruit that shops discarded. For a treat, mother would pick up lollipops or gum kids dropped on the street. My grandfather, who I never knew, scraped together whatever jobs he could. Nonna found piecemeal work crocheting rosettes for baby’s hats. She and my mother would pick up a gross of the hats from a factory in Queens and carry them back to whatever apartment they were living in at the time. Nonna was paid $1.50 per gross. Mom says that because of this, she’s never forgotten that a gross equals 144. It’s emblazoned on her brain.

Eventually my grandfather got a job with the city as a sewer cleaner. Nonna went to work in a factory doing sewing piecework, meaning she was paid per finished piece. It wasn’t easy but Papa and Nonna managed to save enough money to buy this two-family home in Astoria. 

Meanwhile, Mom carved her own path. She trained herself to speak without the thick New York/Italian accent of her family and got a job as a secretary in Manhattan. Raised by her father to love reading and the arts, she shared that passion with her younger cousins. Here she is with her late cousin Antoinette, who once told me that the times she spent exploring the Big Apple with Mom were some of the happiest memories of her life. 

Italy is considered a matriarchal society. The power of the women in my immediate and extended Italian family was proof positive of that. Besides my nonna and mother, there were the cousins who came over from Italy with barely any schooling, saved their pennies, and bought buildings in Astoria that made them millionaires. One cousin, the first in the family to attend college, became a doctor. Years later, her mother, who had arrived in America at the age of fifteen after surviving the horrors of World War II, did the exact same thing.

Mom used to sing to me an old Orsognese song that went
"Le donne di Orsogna sono le più belle." Translation: the
women of Orsogna are the prettiest. They're also the smartest,
most resourceful women around, and I and so proud to share
their genes and history.

By the way, "Maria DiRico," my pen name, was Nonna's 

maiden name. Viva le donne di Orsogna!

So, how about it, Reds and Readers, have your parents and grandparents influenced your writing or your life? Where did they come from and how has it influenced you?

HERE COMES THE BODY is available at your local bookstore, as well at Amazon and Barnes and Noble

BUY NOW

BIO: Maria DiRico is the pen name of mystery author Ellen Byron, who is first-generation Italian American on her mother’s side. MARDI GRAS MURDER, the fourth book in Ellen's bestselling Cajun Country Mystery series, won the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel. The series has also won multiple Best Humorous Mystery Lefty awards. TV credits include Wings, Just Shoot Me, and Fairly Odd Parents. Fun fact: she worked as cater-waiter for Martha Stewart, a credit she never tires of sharing. Maria/Ellen loves to translate what she learned from Martha into recipes for her books. You can reach her at:

http://www.ellenbyron.com/

https://www.ellenbyron.com/catering-hall-mysteries

https://www.facebook.com/ellenbyronauthor/

https://www.facebook.com/CateringHallMysteries/

Do You Heart New York?

If It’s Not Manhattan, What Makes It New York?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: If you missed Bouchercon--or attended and are now missing it--Jungle Reds has the solution!

Here's a crime panel of our very own--moderated by the fab Elizabeth Zelvin.

Liz is the editor of Where Crime Never Sleeps: Murder New York Style 4 (Level Best) (yay, Level Best!), a new anthology of crime and mystery short stories by members of the New York/ Tri-State Chapter of Sisters in Crime. 

Grab some coffee, pull up a chair, and listen in to these terrific authors. And hey, you don't even need to wear your name badge. 

Liz: First, I’d like to say that I chose these particular authors from the anthology to represent the broadest possible perspective. Triss and Stephanie set their stories in two very different parts of Brooklyn. Anita’s story, told through the eyes of a child, takes place at the beach at the edge of Queens. Lindsay’s story is set in the heart of midtown Manhattan, but her characters have Brooklyn roots. Rona’s roam the streets like predators on the hunt and are not attached to any one place. So let’s hear what they have to say about how they chose to interpret the concept of “writing about New York.” First, tell us briefly about the settings of your stories.

Triss Stein: “Legends of Brooklyn” is set in Brooklyn Heights, with the Brooklyn Bridge an important part of the story.

Stephanie : My setting is Coney Island, Brooklyn, a place that has long been famous for wooden roller coasters, Ferris wheels, Nathan’s hot dogs, the Boardwalk, and the beach. A place where families went to escape the summer heat before air conditioning became pervasive. But it is also a place that fell on hard times subsequently, with high crime and gangs and drugs, and is only fairly recently having a terrific revival.

Anita Page: “The Cousins” is set in Rockaway Beach, Queens, in the mid-1940s, a neighborhood of small bungalows on long streets that run down to the boardwalk and the beach.

Rona Bell: “Prey of New York” is set largely in Manhattan, seen through the eyes of more than one generation. The story takes place not only in the places we all know—the bridges, Fort Washington, the Metropolitan Museum—but in the travel between all these places, which is, I think, what tourist and resident alike relate to and remember.

Liz: Lindsay, you threw enough Manhattan icons into “I Gotta Be Me” to balance a heavy dose of Brooklyn. Tell us about that.

Lindsay Curcio: I chose some of my favorite parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Radio talk show host Johnny Monroe broadcasts from a studio at the Hotel Pennsylvania and goes to sporting events at Madison Square Garden. Johnny and Stein meet at Rudy’s bar on Ninth Avenue in the 40s.

Liz: In fashionable Hell’s Kitchen!

Lindsay Curcio: Rudy’s markets itself as a dive bar, and it does not disappoint. Everyone goes there!

Johnny lives in Tribeca. Bay Ridge, Brooklyn also figures into the story, and it has always been a neighborhood with a lot of diversity and immigrant history.

Liz: Do you have a personal connection to this setting?

Lindsay: These parts of the city are areas in where I spend most of my time living and working and places I make sure to show all visitors to New York.

Liz: How about you, Rona?  

Rona: I remember that in my first job in lower Manhattan, the tourists would lean down from the buses and take pictures of people like me. We were the attraction, objects to be pointed at. That dichotomy between what is real and what is remembered, what is owned and what is coveted, is an endless setting for crime fiction, I believe.

Liz: And you, Stephanie? Were you “writing what you know”?

Stephanie : Definitely. My family was one of the families that went to Coney Island to beat the heat, enjoy the rides, and make sand castles on the beach. And I had a childhood friend who lived there, which is part of the theme of my story.

Anita: My extended family, like so many others in those years before air conditioning, rented bungalows in Rockaway to escape the heat. For kids it was heaven, with the freedom to run outside and play that we didn’t have in Brooklyn.

Rona: One of my first memories was the long car ride from Western New York. My brother and I would sleep for hours in the back seat and wake up on the FDR, setting eyes on the clipper ship in the South Street Seaport. It is a memory we share, as though the visits to grandparents were also a trip back in time. I hoped to weave that sense of memory and time into this story.

Liz: Triss, what made you choose Brooklyn Heights?

Triss: My work-in-progress is set in Brooklyn Heights, and—as always—I found more fascinating stories than I could include in that plot. I do live in Brooklyn, and all my books take place in various Brooklyn neighborhoods.

Liz: What’s your definition of “New York” as a geographical location? When is a place “in New York” or a person “from New York”?

Anita: My definition of New York is the five boroughs. I was born in Brooklyn and lived in various parts of Queens until I was a young adult, but it’s been so long since I lived in the city that I now say I’m from the Mid-Hudson Valley.

Triss: I agree. The five  boroughs are New York. You can’t say “I am a New Yorker” if you have lived in New Jersey for thirty years. Yes, I met someone who said exactly that!  You also can’t say you are a native New Yorker if you didn’t grow up here. I didn’t. My kids did. It is different. But you can become a New Yorker, and the city is full of people who found their true home here. Maybe you’re a New Yorker when you have  mastered the subway system.

Lindsay: I’m from Chicago and moved to New York more than twenty years ago. I don’t think a person has to be originally from New York to be a New Yorker. New Yorkers are kind, friendly, hard-working, loyal, and open to new experiences. Most importantly, they have a sense of humor. I know that may not be what those from outside of New York think, but that has been my experience.

Stephanie : I believe that anyone who grew up in any of the boroughs is a native New Yorker. But I also have a more specific definition regarding what I call the B boroughs. That would be Brooklyn and the Bronx. They, along with Manhattan, feel more authentic to me. That is partly because Staten Island was physically connected only to New Jersey until 1964 when the Verrazano Bridge was built. They even voted in a referendum to leave the city within my lifetime. And then there is Queens. I always thought that the natives there wished they actually lived on Long Island.

Liz: Oh, those are fighting words! I grew up in Queens, but I was born in Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, I went to dancing lessons in Manhattan as soon as I was old enough to put a subway token in the slot and cello lessons after that, and in high school, I spent my Saturdays at the Museum of Modern Art and my Sundays hanging out in Washington Square listening to folk music. Pre-Dylan, pre-drugs. Pre-exorbitant fee to get into MoMA. It was all free. You bet I’m a native New Yorker!

Stephanie : Also, a real New Yorker will root for either the Mets or the Yankees.

Liz: Yankees all the way. The Mets didn’t exist when I was a kid. Rona, how about you?

Rona: While New York is one of the world’s great cities, it is also, I believe, a mental and emotional space owned by all. It is a place that pulls people to it, generation after generation, to pursue a better life. The layers of achievement and disaster intermingle everywhere—to me that is the essence of New York and its everlasting meaning. I once helped organize a New York art show in a bank branch. The artists were “outsider” artists—artists from institutions, living in New York and all self-taught. They were all given one subject, the Statue of Liberty. I often call those images to mind when writing: the Statue of Liberty as a witch, as a frightened woman, as a giant.  These artists are all New Yorkers, taking in the city and making it their own. Somewhere unsaid, this exhibit was an engine for this story.

Liz: In choosing the location for your story, how much attention did you pay to the requirement that it be a New York story? Were you comfortable with the parameters? Did you feel challenged by them in any way?

Rona: The requirement that the story be a New York story was both a comfort and a challenge.  It was a lens in which to shift through and assess the endless locales and hopefully to lift the setting above the stereotypical. It is was a challenge to be sure that the setting did not fall into the dream of New York and not contain aspects of the real New York. That was one of the reasons I chose the image of the hawk. New York is a major birding area, and the fact that you can go up the Empire State Building and watch flocks of migrating birds is stunning to me. Like many other New Yorkers, I have not done it, but I know it is there. And the life forms swirling around us provided some energy for this story.

Anita Page: I did pay attention to the requirement that the story be set in New York City and involve a landmark. I interpreted that to mean a legally designated landmark rather than a tourist attraction.

I’d been thinking for a while about setting a story in Rockaway, and I hoped the area qualified as a historic landmark. As it turned out, three streets, Beach 24th, 25th, and 26th, had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

Triss: I paid every attention to the requirement. That’s what started me thinking about the story. I felt comfortable with the parameters. I like writing stories to a theme.

Lindsay: I think “I Gotta Be Me” is a New York story not only in terms of location but for the general theme. It’s a fact that people come to New York to reinvent themselves.

Stephanie: The New York requirement was no  problem to me. There used to a TV show about New York, The Naked City, and the narrator started each episode with the concept that there are eight million stories in the naked city. Eight million stories should be enough for anyone.

Liz Curcio: So what about Manhattan vs Brooklyn? Is there genuine rivalry there?

Stephanie Wilson-Flaherty: Of course there is tension. Manhattan has the authentic postal code, New York. It is the original. So good they named it twice, as the famous song goes. When people from Brooklyn go to work or shop in Manhattan, they say they are heading for “the city.” Brooklyn was its own city and didn’t join in with the others until 1898. It has its own identity. Its own library system. We even had our own baseball team, once upon a time. At the end of the day, I would suspect that Manhattanites don’t think about Brooklynites much at all. And I suspect that Brooklynites get a lot of “Brooklyn” attitude from the immigrants, lots of whom originally came over the Brooklyn Bridge from the Lower East Side. So they kind of think the other guys are sort of rich social snobs. 

Rona: In my family, this is a topic of constant discussion. To think that a previous generation landed in Brooklyn, and prosperity meant getting out—now that has reversed. Brooklyn is a destination, a new cauldron of creative endeavors. We are seeing a reversal that will be followed by a new reversal, which is part of the magic of New York.

Lindsay: When I moved to New York in 1994, I lived in south Brooklyn. It was affordable and the only place I could find a safe, clean apartment within the time frame I needed. Of course, my thought was: I’ll move to Manhattan next year. I loved Brooklyn so much I never left! It took a long time, but Brooklyn is a destination in itself, and now when I travel and say I’m from Brooklyn, everyone wants to know more about the borough.

Triss: I think it’s more legendary than true at this point. This has changed a lot in the time—several decades—I have been a Brooklynite by choice. Then, many people asked us, “Why Brooklyn???” with “of all places” implied. And I know several who did move here but felt it was proof of failure. Now they’re happy they made that move.

Liz: So Brooklyn doesn’t consider itself the underdog?

Triss: Not any more!

Liz: Does Manhattan consider Brooklyn the underdog?

Triss Stein: I am tempted to say—with learned Brooklyn attitude—“Who cares?” I am joking, of course. Sort of.

Anita: As a native New Yorker, I propose that the only significant interborough rivalry died when the traitor Walter O’Malley took the Dodgers out of Brooklyn.

Liz: Anita said earlier that she assumed our original call for submissions based on landmarks referred to officially designated historic landmarks. I have to admit that what I had in mind was actually attractions: monuments like the Brooklyn Bridge and events like the Marathon that draw thousands, millions of visitors to our city.

Lindsay: Oh boy, well, I thought that Rudy’s was a tourist attraction in addition to being a neighborhood bar!

Liz: I thought that the storytellers might murder some of those visitors, and that visitors might commit and solve the crimes. I found it fascinating and very cool that instead, our contributors chose to write about not visitors but New Yorkers. To us, the iconic places of New York, like Central Park and Carnegie Hall and the Bronx Zoo, are not attractions but where we go about our lives. So the theme of Where Crime Never Sleeps became the infinite variety of New Yorkers and the uniqueness of New Yorkishness. Our storytellers inspired it, so let’s ask them: In a nutshell, what makes a New Yorker a New Yorker?

Anita Page: I believe that a true New Yorker is someone who tolerates inconvenience, isn’t easily fooled, and appreciates diversity.

Triss Stein: One of the things I observed when I worked in many diverse Brooklyn neighborhoods: lots of people don’t describe themselves as New Yorkers or even as Brooklynites but as being from a neighborhood or even sub-neighborhood or project. “I’m from Brighton Beach. Sea Gate. Dycker Heights. Bensonhurst. Red Hook. Lewis Pink Houses. Walt Whitman Houses. Starrett City. Mill Basin.” Small towns in the midst of the big city.

Liz: I would hate to start the war again, especially if it’s been over since the Dodgers left Brooklyn, but that doesn’t happen in Manhattan. I can’t imagine telling a stranger on a train traveling from Amsterdam to Copenhagen, “I’m from the Upper West Side.” I’m a New Yorker!

Stephanie Curcio: There’s a famous cartoon cover of the world from The New Yorker magazine. Most of the drawing’s real estate shows Manhattan, then jumps west to mention the Hudson River and “Jersey” and then gives a few inches for the rest of the US before giving an inch or so for the Pacific Ocean, China, Japan, and Russia. I know a lot about this New Yorker-centric view of the world because I have a copy of the cartoon on my living room wall. If you live in New York and that is your view of the world, even if you live in Staten Island or Queens, then you are a New Yorker. 

Rona: I recall a very specific moment when I believe I spotted a real New Yorker. A black van pulled up to a Lexington Avenue subway stop. Twenty men clothed in black got out, with Homeland Security stamped on their backs and weapons in each arm. They circled up at the entrance to the subway, listening to their commanding officer. A New Yorker with a suitcase came up to one of the Homeland Security officers and tapped him on the back. “Excuse me, is the Number 6 running on time?” This is the exuberance and confidence of a New Yorker.   

HANK: So Reds, what do you think makes a New Yorker? Do you heart New York?

Lindsay A. Curcio, author of “I Gotta Be Me” in Where Crime Never Sleeps, is a writer and an immigration lawyer living in Brooklyn and Niagara Falls, New York (where she can see Canada from her window). She loves the intersection of immigration law and pop culture. Her short story, “We All Have Baggage,” was included in the previous Murder New York Style anthology, Family Matters.

Triss Stein, author of “Legends of Brooklyn” in Where Crime Never Sleeps, is the author of the new mystery Brooklyn Wars, described in Publishers Weekly as “a colorful tale of love, loss, greed and murder” and three other mysteries in the Erica Donato series about Brooklyn neighborhoods, in which the historian heroine investigates both old and modern secrets. Triss had stories in all three previous Murder New York Style anthologies. 

Elizabeth Zelvin, editor of Where Crime Never Sleeps and author of “Death Will Finish Your Marathon” in the anthology, is the author of the Bruce Kohler Mysteries and the Mendoza Family Saga. Her short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and been nominated three times for the Agatha and twice for the Derringer Award. Visit her at www.elizabethzelvin.com and on Facebook.

Anita Page is the author of “The Cousins” in Where Crime Never Sleeps. Her short stories have appeared in webzines and anthologies including the MWA anthology The Prosecution Rests and Level Best’s Windward. She is a Derringer Award recipient, authored the novel Damned If You Don’t, and edited the anthology Family Matters. She reviews classic crime films for Mysterical-E and blogs at anitapagewriter.blogspot.com.

Stephanie Wilson-Flaherty is the author of “Murder in Coney Island” in Where Crime Never Sleeps. Her short stories have made the finals in RWA’s Golden Heart contest; earned a four-star review from RT Book Review; been published in three of the Murder New York Style anthologies; and been listed among the “Other Distinguished Mystery Stories” in Best American Mystery Stories 2015, edited by James Patterson and Otto Penzler.

Rona Bell, author of “Prey of New York” in Where Crime Never Sleeps, is the pen name of a New York business executive who has published (under other pen names) in the North American Review, the Akashic Books Mondays are Murder series, as well as such publications as The New York Times and Washington Post. An essay on wartime and crime fiction appears in the current issue of Mystery Readers International.

The Best Day of my LIfe

RHYS BOWEN: There is currently a commercial for a casino running all the time on TV here and the song is "Today is the best day of my life."
This got me thinking: what was the best day of my life so far?
Certainly not sitting at a casino and winning money!
Also not my wedding day. I think I was so concerned that everything went right that I never had time to enjoy it properly. Also I was married in Australia and really wished my family could be there.

I remember the feeling of awe when my first child was born. I produced this perfect little thing? With the others I was just glad the birth was over.
I've had some satisfying career moments: winning my first Agatha and making my way to the stage through a ballroom full of people all applauding for me. That was pretty heady. Being escorted onto the stage in Reno by a hunky cover model to receive a career achievement award... that was not bad either! The first time I made the New York Times bestseller list. The time I was nominated for the Edgar best novel. I did a lot of happy dancing for those. But would I trade one of them for time with family? I think with pride about watching my children get married, grandchildren win swimming races, appear in plays, become National Merit finalists.

I think fondly of some of those family meals: fourteen of us all around the table, all laughing and talking and teasing. Pretty perfect. And I can think of a couple of meals that were absolutely perfect. I flew down to Australia for my mother's 75th birthday. She requested a picnic. My brother and sister-in-law did the planning. We sat in the shade on a clifftop with a glittering ocean below us. On the table was every kind of seafood: lobster, crab, oysters, jumbo shrimp. Every kind of cheese. Four or five different salads. Crispy bread and champagne. We ate, we relaxed, we swam, then ate some more. We only went home when it became dark. Yes, that was a perfect day.

Another similar day comes to mind. I was hiking with my friends out at Point Reyes in Marin. Sparkling sunny weather. We followed a bubbling stream up a shady valley, lined with wild flowers. We came to a high meadow with deer standing watching us. Then descended to the ocean, . and came out to arch rock--a might arch jutting over the breaking waves. We sat on warm turf and ate our picnics, talking and laughing together while pelicans wheeled overhead. And I remember thinking clearly, "This is about as perfect as it gets."  One of those friends has died now and arch rock collapsed last year, killing a hiker standing on it. So I'm treasuring the moment, as if preserving it in amber.

How about you? What is the best day of your life so far?


LUCY BURDETTE: I tend to agree with you about wedding days, Rhys. It's very hard to enjoy one in the moment if you've been knocking yourself out on the many details and worrying if everyone will behave! On the other hand, that day has led to a wonderful life with John and his kids, whom I consider mine now too. And there were a couple very special times when my first book came out (SIX STROKES UNDER.) My launch was in the local library because all the people wouldn't fit into the bookstore--people from all walks of my life, including my writer sister and my old dad, who was so proud. And a little later, I was invited to be the keynote speaker at a women's golf event--there's nothing like 400 golf-crazy people laughing at your jokes!

But times with family take the prize. Here's one recent day, the day before my darling nephew and his fiancee were married in Malibu. The scene was overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and my funny brother and I had prepared a skit to welcome Hannah into the Isleib tribe. I don't know how this tradition started, but he and I love love love performing silly skits in front of people. (And quite a few of them were Hollywood types--surprising that no one has contacted us about a new career yet!)

And meeting our first grandchild, and helping her parents get settled, that was sure special too!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Lucy! I want to see that skit! Or at least hear more.

The best day of my life. Oh gosh. I'm thinking it hasn't happened yet.

The day I met Jonathan? That was pretty darn fabulous. Including the Perseid meteor shower. Winning my first Agatha--for PRIME TIME? I was stunned.  WInning the Mary Higgins Clark? I could barely speak. When The Other Woman sold?

 I'm really cranky right now, and it's funny, it's hard to think, even though it might be therapeutic. I'll keep thinking.

Oh, okay. Here's one. A photo of our honeymoon in Paris.

LUCY: Ok Hank, you asked even if you were just being polite. So I'll give you a little taste. My John is always a little worried that we'll either a, insult someone, or b, call undue attention to ourselves, or c, make general a**es of ourselves and divert the focus from the main event. And in fact right before this presentation, I'd read an advice column in which wedding toasters were advised not to make the toast about themselves. Irresistible material to my funny brother...so here was our first verse (after opening shenanigans, which I will spare you!):

Doug: John says a toast that is just about us
Is uncouth, and really poor form.
Unfortunately we find ourselves so intriguing,
That us talking about us is the norm

And so on...

HANK: Perfect! I'm sure you were a complete hit!

HALLIE EPHRON: One perfect moment was when I went to NY in maybe 1999 to meet my editor for the first time. I'd just sold my first book and I came up out of the subway and there was the Flatiron Building looming in front of me (St. Martin's Press had their offices there) and I remember wishing I'd been wearing a hat on so I could toss it up in the air like Mary Tyler Moore did at the opening of her TV series.

Now it's all about being with my children and my grandchildren. I've got two spectacular grown daughters, Naomi and Molly, and I just love being with them, looking at them, talking to them, feeding them, getting the house ready for their visits. Naomi has 2 of the cutest damned children you ever saw, Franny is 3 and Jody is 5 months old. There's a yiddish word, KVELL, and it's that surge of happy emotion that wells up in you when you look at someone you love unreservedly. I do a lot of kvelling.

HANK: Oh, Hallie you remind me...and I had a New York moment, too. IN 19...91? I was called to NYC to audition for a job as a network correspondent for ABC News. Nightline, and the evening news. I had a solid  full nonstop day of interviews with moguls.  Tough questions, on camera stuff, ethical and journalistic decision-making. Rigorous!  And the end of the day I was old--they love you. Will you come join us?  I remember flying home, at night, all the lights of the city beneath me. And I was singing that Carly Simon song from Working Girl: Le the river run, let all the dreamers face the nation-- I was honestly crying with joy.  (I decided not to take the job! Another great thing. And another blog.)

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Oh, New York City figures in some of my best days ever. The time Ross and the kids and I went just for fun - no book business at all! - and stayed in a fabulous suite (which I got cheap from Priceline!) in Murray Hill. It was a couple weeks before Christmas, so we shopped at Macys on 7th Avenue and walked around midtown admiring all the window displays. We ate at our favorite German restaurant and saw the Rockette's Christmas show (with orchestra seats!) It was a happy, relaxing, delightful long weekend, with everyone getting along (two full bathrooms helped...) and something we all remember fondly.

Like the rest of you, finding out my first book was going to be published - that was a day that changed my life. One day in North Carolina with a special friend - we drove his ancient ragtop Mercedes up a dirt road and then hiked to his favorite spot and went swimming in an icy cold stream before picnicking beneath the trees. It doesn't sound like much, but it was a perfect day. Almost every day we spent on our once-in-a-lifetime African safari, driving out to view elephants and zebra and giraffes and wildebeests and lions, drinking G&Ts as the sun set across the savannah, and then on to a gourmet dinner beneath a tented canopy.

Sometimes I wonder if the very best day might not have taken place when I was a kid in Argyle, NY, which was a lot like being a kid back in the forties or fifties: Riding my bike around town, buying candy at the General Store and sitting on the porch eating it; hiking up Barkley Mountain by myself and not coming home til the fire whistle blew at six; long summer afternoons spent with my best friend, both of us reading library books. It was so easy having perfect days when I was twelve, I never even noticed I was having them at the time.

HANK: Julia, you have to use that last line in an essay or short story! It's the perfect line.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Oh, gosh, what an interesting question, Rhys. Not weddings--although both mine have been small, you just want to get through the day. Maybe my second wedding DAY, though. Rick and I made a reservation to stay at a B&B in the Texas Hill Country. It's a beautiful drive, and when we arrived it was the most wonderful old farmhouse on acres of land with a creek, and stone patio filled with hummingbirds, and wonderful porches. (This was the middle of May!) We made instant friends with the owners, and we're still friends twenty-two years later, although they no longer run their place as a B&B.

So many others. Wonderful childhood days with my best friend (who I get to see next weekend!). Trips with my parents. My first glimpse of England from the plane. So many days in London, including many Saturdays at Portobello Market. Finding out my first book had sold--but that was more shock. First book signing with my parents and my daughter there.

And, of course, this year, seeing my granddaughter born was the most amazing day. But most of my favorite days are unspectacular, eating and drinking and visiting with friends and family.

RHYS: Now it's your turn: what was the best day of your life so far?